 It's five o'clock. We're going to start. We're going to start it's five o'clock. And it's a 14th of August. Welcome to watch your work. I'm SLP. We are here and we've been doing the show for like 14 or 15 years now where we get together mostly on Mondays where we work together for 20 minutes and then we invite you to talk about your work and your creative process. While we don't have time to actually share our work like read it aloud or anything like that for feedback. We do have plenty of time to talk about the process and how you're doing things like that. So we want to give a big shout out and thank you to the public theater and howl around for helping us make this community possible, especially on zoom where we have been for the last couple of years since the pandemic started. Before that, of course, we were in person in the lobby of the public theater. But so if you were going to work together for 20 minutes and then you're going to get in touch with me, ask me a question about your process. And should you want to get in touch, Cody is going to tell us how. Cody, thanks. Hello, friends. Great to meet you all. I'm filling in some of my public theater counterparts. And so today, if you are in zoom, you can ask a question after the 20 minutes. If you have any questions, please feel free to send us your questions by clicking the raise your hand button, which should be in the reaction tab, likely at the bottom of your screen or if you tap your screen, if you're on an iPad or something like that. If you have trouble finding it, just message me on the chat. And I could be, I'll do my best to help you out. If you're watching on the stream on howl around, please feel free to send us your questions via the public account, which is at watch me work SLP. With the hashtag howl around spelled H O W L R O U N D. And we will make sure to funnel it back here so that we can get those questions up. Fantastic. Thank you, Cody. Very well done. Here we go with our timer. Okay, okay. That was 20 minutes. Amazing. And so quickly. Okay, so we're back. And we're going to take your question to see if. Cody is. Oh, I'm here. Hi there. Let's 20 minutes go fast, girl. So great. So if we, if you have some questions, Cody can unmute you and you can ask me. Great. MC I saw you physically raise your hand. Okay, cool. I can. You should be able to unmute now. There you go. Hello. Hello. How are you? Good. I'm in my favorite place. Oh, where. Provincetown, Massachusetts. Yeah. I know I try to come every year to hang out at the. Fine arts work center. So a bunch of us meet and this is our. Our week here. So. Yeah. I have, I know I want to save this as my, my screenshot background for the rest of the year. So. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. So. When you were writing father comes home from the war. Wars. And the. The idea of the Odyssey. The, as your. Did you let that inspire and inform your work? Did you ever think about that? Are you, are you, um, are you working on a piece where you're using. Uh, being inspired by other pieces. Yeah. Well, I've been reading about different artists to then use that. Well, I was reading this book home fire by. I can't pronounce her name, but she just wrote a. A novel a couple of years ago. She's a Pakistani Londoner. And she was inspired by Antigone. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And, um. You know, sometimes we, we, we think we don't have to, I try to think remind myself, I don't have to reinvent the wheel. Right. Right. Right. And so. You know, I think about. What might be sort of an inspiration or guide for me. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And same with and patch it, her new book out is sort of combination of our town. And, um, the cherry orchard. Yeah. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. So I'm just wondering, you know, she says that or, or I'm just curious. Yeah. Well, I think she, she's, well. She has said in interviews. Yes. But it's really more even though it's set in a cherry farm in Michigan, it's really more like our town. Or a character who plays Emily over and over again. But there happened to be three sisters and there, it happens to have a cherry orchard. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. I mean, that's what I sort of wanted to hear what you were working on MC in relation to your question. Cause. People have said, father comes from the word is based on the Odyssey. Based on like five or six and lots and lots of different things. So that's. That's the first answer. Um, with, with me, I don't know what these other writers, uh, and patch it in your other writer. I don't know their process. But for me, it was the Odyssey, the Mahabharata, lots and lots of things. Um, people make the mistake because what people say is it's based on the Odyssey. So then they start to try to connect the dots. Yes. Then they get confused because. After, oh, one person's name is hero or Homer. And there's a dog in it. Then they get confused because it's not, I mean, if you, we know the Odyssey, father comes on the words. Yeah, it's not, it's not, it's very little like that. So, so, yeah. So there's a little bit, there's a name from here and a name from there. And someone coming home from the war is based more on the fact that my dad was in the army and came home from the war a lot. That's what it's based on. Not the Odyssey. So yeah. Anyway, but that's just to clarify that. Yeah. So outsiders use it as a way to simplify and pitch. It's easier to say because it's easier to say it's like this. Or a critic or a scholar or something. Fond of putting things in boxes neatly organizing things might say, it's like that. And then everybody goes, Oh, of course. And then that, so there's a bit of misunderstanding that's generated, which I think doesn't serve the work ultimately. to understand it. I mean, you look at, again, just look at Father comes up for the war. I mean, this thing, part two, what does that have to do with the Odyssey? I don't know. You know, part one, what does that have to do with the Odyssey? I don't know. He comes home. You know what I mean? So anyway, but to your point, like, are you thinking of maybe basing one of your works on a classic text? Do you have something in mind or? Well, I've been mulling some things over, but I really was trying to get, trying to ask you a question and it was a very smooth pivot back to me. And now I find I can't answer that. It's okay. You don't have to answer it. I'll tell you, I'll answer your question without talking about if I put some of the words in the Odyssey, because that doesn't make any sense to me. But if you, well, I would say if you have a classic work that you'd like to base like, like, oh, I forgot his name. Rent, the fellow who wrote rent, whose name I'm spacing right now. Anyway, he based his rent on Lobo M. He said that. Okay, so great. So if you, I would say, get really familiar with the work that you're interested in. Really, really familiar with it. And read it or, you know, listen to the music or whatever. If it's a text, read it so many times that it kind of becomes almost like a background voice, you know? And then go about your writing from that point of view. So that it's informing some of your moves, but it's not like, you know, this character is gonna be this character in my book and this character is gonna be this character in my book. I mean, you can do it that way too, but that's not, you know. Yeah, I don't wanna be a slavish imitation because it will definitely fall short. And, you know, I got my own thing to do. Exactly. And I'm more interested in riffs, what I call riffs, like in the blood and fucking A, my two plays are riffs of a scarlet letter. They're not, the stories are so different from the scarlet letter, but some characters have the same names. There's an A, you know? So just sort of read the text a lot, say if you're gonna do, you're gonna base something on Hamlet, let's just say. We have all heard of Hamlet. And you read it a lot, a lot, a lot and allow it to inform your work. And, you know, make good use of the wheel. As you said, the wheel that's already been made. Right. Don't throw out the wheel. Oh, great, now I'm just gonna say, I'm gonna say it's based on Hamlet or King Lear because that will get me some buzz and then I'm just gonna toss it out and do my own thing. What you might as well do your own thing then. Yeah, I like the idea of riffing. That's the perfect way for me to think of it. So. Like Charlie Parker, the, you know, musician. Yeah. He had a tune called Now's the Time. Right, now's the, yeah, now's the time. I think it's called Now's the Time. So it went, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba. Now, right. What does it sound like? He was riffing on You're In The Army Now. Cool. Or Colton has his version of my favorite thing. My favorite thing, yes. Also to the original, but still he goes off in interesting places. So, there's that tradition, you know, but they really had that other song in their head. And then they took it somewhere else. Right. So that's kind of what we, I mean what you might want to do or you can do an adaptation of a classic which is also appropriate, you know, I just like the idea of riffing. That's the way I'm going to think about things. So, yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thanks and see great question. Love that where you are right now. Good for you. Beautiful. Our next up is a L. You should be able to unmute now there you go. Hi. Jonathan, Jonathan Larson. Jonathan Larson blesses heart. Yes, sorry. This is a question there's probably a question in there that you're going to find, but I had a very good friend die last week and what happened. Yeah, I mean just sucked to the nth degree. But I've never had a grief reaction like I had before to somebody leaving my, you know, not only their life for my life. I couldn't stop writing. And you know from previous times I've been having a hard time just kind of getting started and coming up with all these excuses why I couldn't do it. I couldn't shut it off. It was like, damn faucet. Wow. And I haven't read a lot about the grief response to creativity. But it just blew me away that I had that kind of response so not only did I write about him nonstop but I also started working on all the stuff that I haven't been working. I can't really understand why and maybe we're not meant to understand why stuff like that happens because I got to tell you, you know now that I've gotten used to I'm not kind of being around the faucets dried up. And it's horrible to think about, you know, like, well maybe every time a friend dies, I'll be incredibly creative. And I comment that conversation you had about somebody being on weed, and that, you know, it's fine once in a while but you kind of don't want to get used to using weed to. Right, right, right. This was, obviously, this is something totally different. But it was that kind of reaction that my mind just exploded. And I just thought I didn't know if you've read anything that would be kind of interesting for me. I haven't read it. I'm really sorry for your lost ale I mean that's, I'm so sorry sounds like it. They were a dear friend and and they meant a lot to you and I'm sorry that they're gone. Thank you. I. I'm gonna ask you maybe I'm gonna ask you a different question I don't have any I haven't read any literature about the grief response to creativity. What I'm curious about is, did you enjoy writing like that. Yeah, and that's I think what freaked me out a little bit was that it was just, you know, I couldn't I couldn't sleep. I wasn't eating, but damn I could write. Like, holy shit, you know, now what. Would you like to be writing and be able to sleep and be able to eat regularly. I think I think that would probably be a really good idea. Right. So maybe, maybe one could say I'm just, again, I'm just guessing I haven't read any literature on this and I'm not a grief creativity specialist. But maybe something in your friends passing. That reminded you of how time is limited. I was wondering if that was part of it, you know, the whole mortality thing. And I was wondering that's what I was looking into. And I don't think so. But yeah, I mean I'm sure that's part of it. There was something else at work bad way. Like, whoa, time is limited. But to realize that I'm just going to be honest with you like everybody, you're not going to be here forever. You know, and if you don't get your work done, your time will be over, and you will have gotten your work done. And that's a choice that you can make. We all have to make that choice. You know, it's like, either I'm going to spend my time frittering away like doom scrolling on my phone. No, I don't think anyone on their deathbed ever is like, gosh, I wish I do scroll more. Or I wish I'd watched more episodes of Good Morning America or whatever shit that's on the television that we think we have to catch up on, you know. But I think a lot of people do. We should they had done the thing that they always wanted to do. And here's your chance. I'm just telling you, here's your channel me for all of us, we're all included in this. Here's your chance. It's right now it's happening right now we have a chance to do the thing that we've always wanted to do. And so, and we have a choice we have a chance, and we have a choice. And we can make that sure we have a chance to do it, and we have a choice to decide to do it or decide not to do it. And that that's what it is. So you made the choice in the in having, you know, experience in the grief and hearing of your dear friends passing to charge forward. That's a good choice. And you can, you know, use them as your ally to help you get to the finish line of whatever you want to work on. You know, it's not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing. It's a I mean the passing is a sad thing but but the way it motivates you is a good thing. There's a story about Tom waits that maybe everybody knows about him driving and all of a sudden getting a great idea for a song, and he's yelling can't you see I'm driving here. And that's what this whole week has been. This bizarre popping thing so I don't know if it was ever a conscious choice what you're talking about because of course it makes sense, but there was this just hyperdrive. And maybe it just ties into what you were saying I don't know, but it was one of the oddest things that's ever happened to me. And, but I am taking what you're saying into into effect. I mean, I haven't heard that story about Tom waits. Did he write the song eventually or no, I don't know. It's, you know, it's one of those apocryphal things. If I find it, I'm going to send it to you. What we do about Tom waits is he's written a lot of fucking great songs. I got one while he was driving. Yeah, he just needed to get to wherever he was going. Yeah, but I can bet you that he made time to write the songs that he's written because he's wrote, he's written so many great songs. So he's made that he had the chance, and he's made the choice, and he's still making the choice he's still writing great stuff. You know, so, so sometimes you got to tell him use hold off I got to make this turn here. You get to school or whatever it is you're doing you know, but you know, most of the time it's just like, you're just anesthetized you just like, I'm not even paying attention to the muse because I'm busy doing bullshit. We'll deal. Anyway, thanks for listening. Thank you. Thank great great thank you for sharing that today. Thank you. Thank you so much. Does anyone else have our next question. Beautiful should be able to unmute. Hey, man. Did you get a little pop up that said unmute. There you go. Al is that a a l I don't know whether that's your name or if your name is Al, I'll call you out. I'm a friend of mine, a dear friend, Pam Blair who who had recently passed away and, and I was thinking about that too because what we leave. I remember when my mom died. About a year after she died I was looking through some stuff that was in a box, and it was a notebook that she had written. She had just scrolled her thoughts down. It was such a gift to me because I knew her more from her thoughts than the woman who brought me up and had her. There's a Jewish word called Michigan. Basically, it sounds like what it is it's not a lot of people that she had her mission costs. And it was such a gift to see that whatever she wrote, which was intimately what she was thinking, you know, was her. How she thought what she cared about. It was such a gift and though many people here might have a great goal to write it, the great novel or a great play or something that somebody can leave their thoughts on paper. It can leave their stories on paper. Kind of it concretizes that they were here, at least that what it was for me, you know, it was such a gift that. Oh, that's what she was thinking. I don't know if there's a question in there. My question was really about the Mahabharata. But Al, kind of. What about the Mahabharata? Well, the Mahabharata is this, you know, this great, wonderful, huge, you know, the Caravans and the Pandavas and well, you know, so when, when I saw and read Father comes home from the war I never connected them. And what was the connection was it just the vastness or the, the good and evil or the dog, the 12 noon and the Bhagavad Gita. Yes. The song of God is kind of like part two. Sure. Okay. I saw it anyway. That's that's what inspired me, you know, that's the dog in it. Yes. I mean, it's, it's not, it ain't that like, it's not like, it's not that scholarly, I would say, you know, I mean, I admire critics and scholars, they're very scholarly and all that. I'm not, I'm not. Well, do you have to be well read to be a good writer. That's really my question. What is well read. Read a thousand books. I'm dyslexic. So I slowly and you know, I think I mentioned also do books, but audible, you know, yeah, yeah, right. That's a great, that's a great way to digest. Do you have to be well read to, to, I think, I don't know, I think you have to write a lot. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Just love you. Thank you. I think I think we get better the more we do it, we get better because we're learning how to do it. You know, we're actually learning how to do it. Some people, we met we might make the mistake sometime to call it inspiration, but it might just be like learning how to do the shit. So kind of, I know when I, because of you, you know, I have a writing practice, and there is a flow, all of a sudden you get into the man the flow, you know, the, the zone, the flow and it just flows and it's as if you're not writing. I mean, that's my experience. Something other takes over than, I guess I call it my ego, you know, and it just flows. And, you know, I read it two days later and I thought, who the fuck wrote that, you know what I mean. Yeah, like that. Sorry, I said the F word, I'm sorry. Oh, please. But yeah, that's good. Thank you, Lynn. Thank you for that comment. Those comments. Thank you. Thank you. Beautiful. We have about 15 minutes left. If there is another question. Yes, an answer to the question the chat. We do this most Mondays. So there is a link that goes out there's also information about it on the public theaters website. Sometimes for various all days or conflicts, they, they, we skip Mondays, but that's always a posted about so you can track when we're here. Yeah, thanks for that info Cody. Yeah, we're, we're here. Yeah, sometimes we have, we're otherwise engaged or sometimes it's a, it's a national holiday or something. But yeah, we're here. So we have a question the chat for us LP to know more about the dog. I assume they mean and father comes home. But I'm not sure Sasha, would you like to unmute and chat I can. Oh, yeah. It just sounded like maybe SLP you were saying that a dog was kind of an inspiration for you. Yeah. The biggest inspiration for father comes home from the wars was the fact that my dad was a an army officer and went to war many times. And we sat around waiting for him to come home, and he came home, and then he went to war again, and he came home. That was the biggest inspiration. All the other things from the Mahabharata to the Odyssey to, you know, a bucket of Kentucky fried chicken to whatever those are those were just small little bits of things that helped but the biggest thing was the story of my family. You know, there are no enslaved people. I mean in the Odyssey I mean as main characters. There's no court I mean it. If we try to trace and you know do a paint by number saying it doesn't hold up and it only creates confusion. I think a critic saw that they heard the word Homer, and they saw and the dog and they of course that's what it is. But while it was very praise worthy, you know they gave the show a lot of praise, they kind of narrow, they limited the understanding people coming after saying oh so how does, where does Smith fit in. And he's a black man passing for white. Where is that in the Odyssey, and I'm like it's not. It's my family in my personal family so does that help. I mean there's there's a but there's a dog in the Odyssey and there's a dog in the Mahabharata, and we had a dog named Penny, funnily enough. So, I just say, you know, read a lot, get your inspiration from everywhere the world is singing. You know, the world is singing to you get your inspiration from books and music and and postcards and, and things you hear in the park that sounds weird and, and right right right every day. Do your work so that you can pour your life into your work whatever your work is. You see, do you have a friend who's there. Who is that. Oh, because you're a mute MC. Yeah, yeah, hi. What's your name yourself. My name is sweet. He's a fellow. He's a fellow writer and poet, who's really here. Hi, how are you. Get out with us. Wow. He wrote some really great poems what else do you do. Oh, and his name means what's a read. Son of the river. Son of the river. That's beautiful. Oh, what a beautiful can also call him Cerrito burrito. Yeah, that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. So what are you working on this week's rate. Well, you finished a poem this morning but are you going to continue to work on that. Okay. Yeah, he's really prolific. Oh, we're so inspired by performance art performance art. And then the fryer and moose, everybody, you know, get their passports and yeah, yeah, so he's one of the great inspirations so we get to see each other a couple times a year and it's like, our writing group is together. Wow. Well congratulations on finishing your poem today. Good luck on your next draft. Thank you. Amazing. Great to meet you friend. Be able to unmute. Hey, I know this is, could we hear suites poem from today. No, we don't have we don't have the bandwidth to have you all read your work and and that that's that's not what we're doing here, we talk about process. And you've been coming since we were in the lobby of the public theater generous. That's for that's very generous. But we, we just keep our focus to. Absolutely. I'm sorry. No, no, no, it's okay your enthusiasm is welcome and adored always. I'm just wondering, do we have any other question. Amazing. If no one has any more questions we can happily come back next week we'll be here. Okay. Lovely. Alrighty. Have a great week. Best of luck with your work we'll see you next time. Thank you.